Dark Roads, CPR and an Empty House

To say that Jay Carty is an unusual communicator is a mild statement. Maybe a little nuts would be more accurate, not a preacher, not a teacher, more a storyteller with a very important message where some deep preachers are too snoozey for the rank and file and where some humorists don’t have much to say, Jay’s stuff is generally regarded as an unusual blending of humor and profound content.

A former Oregon State basketball star and LA Laker. Jay has dedicated his life to helping people say “Yes” to God.

Now we hope you enjoy Carty’s Contemporary Classics.

The 66 books of the Bible are written by 40 authors, including two kings, two priests, the position of two Christian men, two shepherds, a legalistic theologian, a statesman, a tax collector, a soldier, a scribe, a butler, and 25 others from equally diversified backgrounds ranging from peasants and poets to statesmen and scholars.

They wrote in the wilderness, dungeons, exile, wartime, peace time, over a period of 1600 years in several countries on three continents and three languages on hundreds of controversial subjects. But with all those variables, this book of books, the Bible, is in perfect harmony with itself and remains in precise agreement with all other factual, historical, archeological, and scientific works current and past.

Contains flashes of poetry, detailed history, captivating biography, letters, memoirs, prophetic writings, but it speaks with astonishing continuity. The miraculous accuracy of it all tells one unfolding story, God’s redemption of men and women, and the harmony of the variables go beyond the realm of chance. The Holy Bible’s a miracle of God’s preservation that can’t be denied. I guess if you have to bet, as you do, I’ve decided to bet on the book and I’ve just decided. Billy Graham, at one point in his life, wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to take the Bible literally, he wasn’t sure. And he went to Forest Home conference center in Southern California and spent the week at this camp that Henrietta Mirrors had started.

And during that week he made the decision, the life decision, to make the Bible his standard for making life’s decisions, just made that decision. And we got through with that retreat it was shortly after that, that William Randolph Hearst put a memo to all of the papers and the Hearst organization, the Hearst papers, just a two word memo, it said “Puff Graham.”

And from that point on the papers started giving him a lot of publicity and God used it to launch him. It all started when he decided to make the Bible his standard for making life’s decisions.

I played basketball at Oregon State, coached there, coached a couple years there, and three years at UCLA before I played for the Lakers. When I was at UCLA, I was an assistant coach and I didn’t have any money, but there was a big money guy there who was my size, who wore a suit two or three times and gave it to me. So I was a poor student kind of guy, but I had some really nice threads.

And in those days, a shiny shark skin suit, gray, pink tie with black polka dots was very together. And we heard about a player in Franklinton, North Carolina. Everybody subscribes to scouting services, all the major colleges and you send blanket letters out to all the top kids in the country. And then those who send letters back to you, you start narrowing down the field and see the ones you’re interested in. This one was scoring 36 points a game, six two, real fast, good outside shot, could dunk. But he was right in the middle of ACC country, Athletic Coast Conference. He’s right, Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina. Franklinton, North Carolina right there.

I put on my shiny gray suit, silk, shark skin, pink tie, black polka dots and get in a plane and fly to Raleigh-Durham. Rent a car, and you want to impress the kid. And in those days in the early sixties that we went with Mopar, we went with the muscle car. We took the big Fury, the big Plymouth Fury.

And I drove to Franklinton. Met the principal who showed me Ku Klux Klan flyers that he was getting regularly, in that part of the country during that time of our history, and I met the kid, Henry. He drove the school bus, because every town had a white school and a black school. That’s just the way it was. And Henry as the senior in high school drove the school bus for the black school. So he’s a good guy. Met the parents, important to get in with the parents, and you don’t worry about dad because mom is the one who makes the decision where the kid goes. Dad thinks he does. He doesn’t.

We got along, went to the game that night and it was a blowout. I couldn’t tell how good he was because he didn’t play against any competition. But two nights later they’re going to play the second best team in the league. 40 miles from Franklinton where Henry’s aunt lived. And so I was going to watch the game and then go over and talk to the family. I got lost. I stopped at this Texaco gas station to find some directions, you know. It was a really old Texaco gas station. Let me tell you how old that Texaco gas station was. The pump out front had a glass globe on the top of it. I’m serious, and a crank where you cranked gas into measured spots in the glass globe and a gravity spigot where you release the gas and then crank up another five.

And three guys are inside sitting around a potbellied stove, chewing snus and spitting. Some of it was going into the can. They’re all wearing overalls, chewing snus, and I walk in my shiny silk shark skin suit, gray, pink tie, black polka dots. I was so looking… I was so Southern California in those days, in rural North Carolina, that these three guys turned and smiled at me and they all had something in common. They had the kind of smile that a dentist would say, “Your teeth look great, but your gums will have to come out.”

And the first words out, we got a pickup truck out in the parking lot, 30 ought six in the window. And I say, “Could you give me directions to the black school?” Well, we’re talking three serious rednecks here in deep North Carolina and me and my shiny silk suit, gray, pink tie, black polka dot, and they all stood and came at me. I thought we were going to fight because I asked the question.

Finally grunted and I took off and found the gym. The game was already going and it was full, and now I knew why they told me not to be late because it was a small gym and they’re probably 60 coaches there from 60 different schools, all wanting a shot at Henry. And now I can’t even get in the gym. A little girl comes up to me and she just grabs my hand and she said, “You must be Mr. Carty.” And I said, “Well, I am but how did you know that?” And she just kind of looked at my tie.

And we walked into the gym. Now you got to remember UCLA was in the middle of winning 10 national championships in 12 years, then. And it wouldn’t have mattered who he was, but everybody knew that the man from UCLA was there. See, shiny, silk gray suit, pink tie, black polka dots. Yeah, shark skin. Walked me down, game kept going, but you could hear the rumble he’s here, he’s here. And Mr and Mrs. Bibby two rows up, center court had saved me a seat.

Do you know what it means? When the parents save you the seat and there are 60 other coaches just drooling to get their hands on the kid. I looked at Dean Smith from North Carolina. I look at the coach from Duke. Henry was good.

After the game, we went over the aunt’s house and we talked about how good I thought he was and how good I thought he could be and what he could do for UCLA, and what UCLA could do for him. And of course, as it turned out, he played for UCLA when freshmen couldn’t play, led them to three national championships and played in the pros for nine years and is currently the coach at University of Southern California, whose son just led Arizona to a national championship. But in that room we had this talk and at three in the morning I left.

Unwritten rule that part of the country during that time of our history, no white in the black part of town after midnight, enforced by the whites, not the blacks. And as I got in my car, headlights came on behind me, and I put the pedal to the metal and I’m rolling out of town on little narrow North Carolina roads at 80 miles an hour and never been on those and I’m not losing the lights and I’m thinking, “Maybe I forgot my wallet and Mr. Bibbys trying to catch me. No, I got my wallet. Did I forget my coat? No, got my coat.”

I’m thinking three rednecks, a pickup truck, a 30 ought six, and a bunch of coaches who want to slap this guy in a pink polka dot tie, or worse, and send him packing for coming into their country. Their part of the country to pick a plum. And I was as I was as afraid as I’ve ever been at any time in my life, driving that car. Why was I so afraid? You’re always afraid in the monster movie until you see the monster. It’s the unknown, folks. It’s the unknown that gets you by the throat and just grabs you. Once you know what you’re dealing with that’s a whole nother issue, but the unknown and what’s the ultimate unknown.

Ah, what happens next? Really?

If you’ve just lost a loved one, the next three or four minutes will be tough for you but after that we’ll get rolling. So just hang right in there. How many of you have ever seen a dead body? May I see your hands please? Oh, almost everyone, yeah. I saw my first one in the sixth grade.

We’d flown into the High Sierras. Tough landing strip at a place called Tunnel Meadows. A guy tried the land who shouldn’t have. He didn’t set her down, came back into a box canyon. Couldn’t get out, did a wing over, saw it hit the tree, fire. We went to fight fire. I’m in sixth grade. I can see one body in the flame. One thrown clear. I’m on the bucket brigade, so I’m not getting any closer than that. But my dad and I had the morning watch before the coroner arrived and they’d put him under this tarp.

I could see these two bodies under a tarp and I walked by that tarp. My dad knew it was going through my mind. He said, “Well, son, if you’re ready to stare death in the eye, we’ll do it together. And if you don’t want to, you will someday, but if you don’t no problem, but if you want to, we’ll do it.” After about an hour parading I finally said, “Okay, Dad but I don’t want to touch the tarp.” So he pulled that tarp back and I stared death in the eye for the first time.

I ran a camp at Southern California Christian Camp. We had a woman who had emphysema, went to 6,000 foot level. She went up to her cabin to get her Bible came back down, went up to the chapel. She got lightheaded and fainted. I happened to be right there and I caught her before her head hit the cement patio outside the chapel and she came to rather quickly. Her two lady friends were with her but I was nervous. I was worried about shock for some reason, so I told my assistant, “Go get the travel all, let’s take her to the hospital. It’s a 20 minute drive. Let’s just be sure.”

I met them at the office with the insurance forms and one of the ladies said, “She stopped breathing,” and the other one screamed, “And I can’t get a pulse.” I jumped in, wedged myself, hit it, get us to the hospital. “Do you know CPR?” “No, I don’t.” The other one said “I do.” “You pray, you start chest compressions.” I go mouth to mouth. Here we go. Now I’m just going to tell you something, the little rubber dummy doesn’t get you ready for this. That little Resus Annie, you do it wrong on the rubber dummy, it doesn’t matter. Right?

I rocked the head back, cleared the airway, she’s swallowed her tongue, I fished it out. Pinched her nose, took my breath for two as I jutted the chin forward and clamped down on her. And I forgot how hard it was to blow up those two balloons that are your lungs. And the first breath went out the side, didn’t go in. And I’m thinking, “What if she dies because I didn’t do this right.” I take my breath for two and I clamped down really hard, made a really tight seal and I blew in and the chest elevated and it came back down, and I put eight breaths in her. And we’re nowhere, eight breaths. And I’m just going to tell you, it gets a little bit hinky now, it gets a little weird. You start thinking, “Am I breathing into a dead person?” You do!

Next breath she came back. She stopped breathing twice more in a 16 minute trip. We did a 20 minute trip in 16 minutes, and one breath brought her back each time. But by the time we got to the hospital, she stood up and walked in totally unassisted. Shock had passed, she was fine. But there was blood everywhere. It was mine. My knees had been sliding on the metal travel all floor, gone through my jeans, right through the top layers of the skin. I’m bleeding like a stuck hog. Didn’t know it, because folks at moments like that, you are really focused.

You know? Why? Because what happens next? You know? I mean really? Did you ever think about suicide? Huh? Yeah, you have haven’t you? I mean almost everybody’s had the first thought. I know some of you’re a little embarrassed to say, “Yeah, I thought about it.” But almost every… I had my first thought in the third grade, and I figured I’d hang my head over the edge of the bed and that would show my mom. Let all the blood rush to my head. She walked into the room. I said, “Hey Mom, can you kill yourself letting all the blood rush your head?” And she said, “No, I don’t think so.” Turned around, walked out. Got a red face and a headache out of the deal.

My father-in-law though. He had a really difficult childhood before television in the rural farm area. He decided he would hang himself. So he went to the barn, threw a rope around the rafters and tied the other end around his ankles and he jumped. Played pendulum for about three hours, til somebody found him. Because he didn’t know how to do it, he just read about it. He didn’t know.

The terrible tragedy of that one was see, if he hadn’t known he would’ve done it because he had decided to. And statistics say that if you have thought about killing yourself, that’s no big deal but if you’ve worked out the details, you’re liable to be close. And if you’ve worked out the details, one study shows if you tell one person your chances of doing it will decrease by 60%. Just tell one person and you’ll probably not do it. I don’t know about you though, I don’t want to meet God doing something I shouldn’t be doing. You know, now I’m secure in Christ, I am. I love the Lord and if I were in a fit of depression or something, I don’t want to meet him doing something I shouldn’t be doing now, because we’re talking about death here and I might be wrong in my theology. Well, I might be.

I don’t think I am, but I… And a thing like death, I mean what happens next? I mean, really? I’ve asked God, “God, would you take me out while I’m preaching? That’s what I’d really like. Massive heart attack while I’m preaching, drop me like a rock.” That’d freak you out a little bit, but I just want to meet him doing what I ought to be doing. You know what I mean? Besides with suicide, no matter what’s happened in your life, you don’t have the right to do that to whoever finds you. It’s just too selfish. Don’t do it.

There was this coach you’d know his name probably, you’d certainly know the school. And he was a chaser, ladies, rounder, drinker, carrying on and he was in bed with a prostitute. Had a massive heart attack and died. I wasn’t close to the Lord at the time, and all my macho buddies said, “Oh man, what a way to die, that was great.” Only I got to thinking about that. How would you like to meet God in that situation? No. No. I think you ought to be doing what you ought to be doing when you meet God. Don’t you think?

Give me two people never had to die. Who were they? Enoch and? Enoch and Elijah never had to die. Is that great? Hold it. We got a verse that says it pointed at man and a woman, but wants to die and then comes a judgment but Enoch and Elijah never had to. How do you figure that one out? The golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules and God decided Enoch and Elijah don’t have to die. Not that big a deal. Right?

The three most righteous Old Testament saints, who were they? It wasn’t Enoch and Elijah. Who were they? Moses, are you kidding? Killed an Egyptian with his fists, dropped him like a rock. No way, David? Raped Bathsheba, killed her husband. Who else?

Abraham.

Abraham? Slept with Hagar.

Joseph.

Joseph? The coat of many colors, proud thing. No way.

Noah.

Daniel.

Daniel?

Job.

Job? My shack, your shack and a bungalow. Nope. None of those guys.

Ezekiel 14:14. Noah, Daniel and Job. The three most righteous Old Testament saints. More righteous than Enoch and Elijah. Yes. So why didn’t these two guys die and these three not?

Golden rule.

Golden rule. I just answers it, yeah. God said, that’s pretty simple. Not that tough. All right. Greatest man ever born of a woman and Jesus said it. Who was it?

John the Baptist. He never did a miracle and he’s the greatest man ever born of a woman. Never did a miracle. Did he have to die?

Yeah, lost his head. Okay, Jesus raised three from the grave. Who were they? Lazarus in the famous he stinketh passage. Do you remember the passage?

Well, here’s the story. Lazarus had to die to be a Jesus type, see? But it was hot. I mean, it’s hot in that part of the world and you leave a body out for three days, it gets ripe and festers and oozes and draws flies. It’s just the way it is. They get stinky and bloated in a hurry in that part of the country. Well, Lazarus is ripening up, he’s drawing flies and they say, “Hey, stick him in the cave over there.”

Jesus shows up three days later, Martha’s on him. I’m telling… Martha’s just on him. She said, “Jesus, why didn’t you come? You love Lazarus, I love Lazarus, you could have saved him, but you waited. Why’d you wait? Why didn’t you come? You love him. Why didn’t you come?”

And there’s your memory verse. If you’re ever hurting for a quickie, there’s a two worder that anyone can remember, it’s Jesus wept. Anyone can remember that. So he says, “Martha, I’m going to go fix it.” She says, “Well, of course you’re going to fix it, in eternity will all be in heaven together and it’ll be fixed. But I just don’t understand why you didn’t come before he died.” He said, “No, you don’t get it. I’m going to go fix it now.” She said, “Say what? You’re going to go in there and fix it? Oh no, Lordy, don’t go in there by now he stinketh to high heaven, if you’ll excuse the expression.” He heads into the cave takes a sniff, “Oh Martha, you’re right on that call. I’m not going in there. Hey, Lazarus come forth.” Well, did you know that there were at least three other guys in there that beat Lazarus out of the cave? Well, it became fourth, and he raised two others.

Who are they? Jairus’ daughter, the synagogue official and widows son, great story. Here’s the way you did it in those days. The funeral would’ve been led by the survivors. That was just the woman. Her husband’s dead. Her son is dead. There’s no social security. She’s in deep weeds. And behind her, would’ve been three mourners, you had to hire mourners in those days. Someone to wail and pretend to be sad, even if they weren’t.

And if you were poor, you could get away with hiring a mourner for a dead pigeon, but you can’t get a good mourner for a pigeon, a dead one, you can’t get a… So I’m not being sexist, she got three little old ladies who are just hurting for the cash. So they’re kind of faking it going, “Yeah, yeah.” You know, not good, but as good as you can get for a pigeon, what are you going to get? And then behind them, the three of them, you would’ve had men carrying a box with the kid wrapped and spiced in the box but no lid on it. They didn’t do lids. They just had the box, kid wrapped in spice and then interested people. So here’s the woman, the entourage and here’s Jesus walking this way.

He’d see the woman and he would’ve been filled with compassion. He would’ve seen the three old ladies faking it, and he’d say, “Weird, man.” And then he’d see the box and he would’ve got that little smirky kind of look on the corner of his mouth. One of those “This’ll be fun” kind of looks, you know what of those? And he walks over to the box and he touches the box and the kid sits up. Freak the guys out, dropped the box, killed the kid. Jesus had to raise him the second time. Did you know about that part of the story? Yeah, I read that in the Apocrypha someplace. I think it’s in there.

Oh, did those three have to die a second time?

Yes.

Oh, now wait a minute. We got a verse that says, “It’s appointed a man and woman who wants to die and then comes to judgment.” What’s the deal here?

Well, maybe. Maybe, but not for sure because there’s more than one kind of death. If you have your Bibles go to the Book of John, in Chapter 11, just before the he stinketh passage in verse 39, in verse 25.

Now there are several that have been raised more than once. Right? Disciples raised some, Elijah raised one, Peter raised a couple, Jesus raised three. We got a bunch of folks here who died twice, and maybe it was the golden rule and maybe it was more than one kind of death. If you write in your Bibles, get ready to write, verse 25, chapter 11, John.

Jesus said to her, Martha, “I am the resurrection of the life. He who believes…” Spiritual birth, right there, just write ‘spiritual birth’ by ‘believes.’ “In me shall live.” Write ‘eternal life’ right there because that’s what ‘live’ means there. “Even if rather when he or she dies of physical death and everyone who is physically alive and has spiritual birth in me while they’re physically alive, shall never die. They’ll have eternal life. Do you believe this?” That’s the way that reads.

Let me read it again for you just so you’ve got it. “Jesus said to her I am the resurrection of the life, he who believes as spiritual birth shall have eternal life. When they die of physical death and everyone who is physically alive when spiritual birth occurs, shall have eternal life. Do you believe this?” Three kinds of life, three kinds of death. Physical, spiritual, eternal.

Start with physical. Your parents didn’t ask you, “Would you like to be born?” You were not consulted. Here you are, a soul. And one of these days, this earth house will no longer contain that soul and you’re going to leave. Some folks just think you’ll cease to exist. It doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case. You will have conscious awareness forever. Now, where do you… Oh, the medical folks tell you’re dead when the brainwaves line out. No electrical transmission here. Pull the plug, nobody’s home.

But that’s not the biblical definition. The biblical definition is when your spirit leaves your body. Now, where do you live inside your body? How, how many of you are lefthanded? Let me see the left handers. Do you live in your left arm? If I cut off your left arm, are you still there?

Yes.

Yes.

Right handers, where are you? Cut it off. Are you still there?

Yes.

Can we conclude that we do not live in our arms?

Yes.

If we cut them off and you’re still there, you must not live in them. Is that correct? Right leg. Cut it off. Left leg. Cut it off. Are you still there? If I keep cutting, I’m probably going to get you sooner or later, but so far we’re stopping there. Let’s have a heart transplant. Do you live in your heart? Think about it. If you did, and you had a heart transplant, you would assume all of the sin of the donor.

Give me Billy Graham’s heart, and if with no arms, no legs, and somebody else’s heart you would not be in very good shape. And if we put you on the doorstep, your name would be Matt. Or hung you on the wall, you’d be Art. Or put you in a hole, you’d be Doug. Might be Phil. If we threw you in the water, you’d be…

Bob.

Bob. Unless we threw you hard, in which case you’d be Skip. And in a hot tub, you’d be Stu. But we’re not going to do any of those things, kind of cruel. Where do you think you’ll live inside your body? Most people think behind your nose, two and a half inches and down a smidge. Now, I don’t know how that gets so precise, but there are a lot of people who spend an awful lot of time trying to find themselves.

All I know is this, I don’t know about out of body experiences. I just had the word of God to tell me, that I don’t know about a long tube and I don’t know about a bright light and I don’t know about floating over my body or any… All I know is my Bible says, unless the golden rule is an operation. “It is appointed in a man and a woman, but once to die and then you will face judgment.” That’s happened to my mom, I’ve had my first phone call. Tough getting those phone calls. You know, most of us get a couple of them in a lifetime, and every now and then your parents will get a call but usually you’ll get two. I’ve had my first one, that was tough because they asked me to preach her funeral. She was a skid row alcoholic. She received Christ. I got to lead her to Christ when she was 64, and she was relatively dry for three years and died at 67.

So, I’d have a chance to speak to all these people at this memorial service off the street that would never darken the door of a church and I had to tell them about the change in my mom. But really tough because I grieve easily. I cry and I’m in the middle of grief, so takes time to process grief. And I’d think about it and I just cry. I was pretty desperate and I don’t want you to think I’m morbid, but I went to the mortuary early just to desensitize myself and tell my story in front of the body because if I could get through it with the body, I could get through it with the audience. If I couldn’t, I’d just cry.

I felt her hair and you know, hair is hair, whether alive or dead or on or off, it’s hair. Because hair is hair, it’s just hair. Then I touched her arm. Oh, I still regret having done so. So cold. Top 16th of an inch was soft but under that it was like hard modeling clay and I recoiled from the touch, and then it was good of God. He kind of spoke to me and said, “Hey Jay, you don’t live here no more.” I knew that wasn’t God, had to have been an angel because God’s grammar would be better than that.

But this waive of release came over me, that this was an old house. She’s not home. She’s at home. That used to be home, not anymore, empty. And with her life, she is so much better off. Jay, cool your jets and a puff of smoke called your lifetime you’ll be with us. It’s going to be great, now just go preach.

And I went and prayed for 10 minutes and went and preached and I didn’t balk once, it was great. Got right on through. What was the release for me? Old house. She graduated.

Physical death. It had occurred.